Burning down the house!

Someone pass the matches, it’s time to light the fire!

That’s right, today marks the first day of our Meet the Heat extravaganza. Each week one of International Heat’s members will be handed the reins and whip and it’ll be their job to drive this vehicle through the heatwave that’s rolling in. So stick around because there’ll be plenty of fun and prizes over the next 11 weeks. So as Pink said…..

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Oops, sorry, but every girl needs protection. *grin*

It’s Rhian’s week and what a damn good week it is too. You see the week starts with my wedding anniversary and finishes with my latest book release. How cool is that? And we didn’t even plan it that way. lol So while you’re busy…..

taking in the party favors I’m off on a little holiday. You see my Hubby decided to take me away for the weekend to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. It’s tomorrow, the 14th and here in Oz it’s a holiday so we’ve got a long weekend! I have no idea where I am right now, well I do because I’m there but now, while I’m typing this up I’m clueless. lol And that’s a strange thing for me to be because while I’m the go-with-the-flow type Hubby is the plan-every-breath type and he’s not planned a thing! We’re, as he said, “winging it”! WTF?! Who is this man and where is my husband?

Let me tell you something you may not know, Hubby and I started dating (if that’s what you could call it *grin*) in March 1988. (Jeez, that seems like forever ago.) Those of you that are quick with math have probably already worked out we were dating 3 months when we got married. Yep, the grass isn’t growing under my feet that’s for sure. And no, we didn’t HAVE to get married. lol That’s the question everyone asks but I have to disappoint them, no scandal here, unless we’re talking about a 19yo woman getting hitched to an 18yo guy. *BIG GRIN* Yes, I am cougar, hear me ROAR! roflmao

Hubby & I in New York May 09

I think my own life has a lot to do with why I love romance. I mean everyone wants to find that one special someone and they want the fireworks and the big shining light moment when they do. I know that feeling, the hitch in your breath, the pounding of your heart and the sudden knowledge that you’ve found the one. For me it was a very clear defining moment. I was visiting a friend at work and this guy left the shop, all I saw was his butt, and I turned to my friend and asked who he was because he was the guy I was going to marry. She of course looked at me liked I’d grown a second head, informed me he was still in school and what was I? Friggin’ stupid? Gotta love our friends don’t we? Anyway, I didn’t cross paths with Hubby again for another few months and when we did nothing happened. We worked for the same company (a pizza delivery place, both of us store managers) and with our late hours everyone that worked for Dino’s hung out together. It was probably a good 4 months before we hooked up and by then I knew without a doubt I’d spend the rest of my life with this guy. And here we are, 22 years later still hanging out together. *grin* Now you can see why I love happy ever after stories and why I love to help my characters find theirs.

So now it’s your turn, I want to hear your happy ever after story or if you haven’t found your one yet tell me about someone you know that has or the best HEA story you read or watched in a movie or TV show. Don’t be shy because if you leave a comment on any blog post this week you’re in with a chance to win a copy of any of my backlist (including Fridays release, Coyote Wild) and a special little parcel I’ll send you all the way from down under. And if you comment on every blog post this week you’ll get your name in the draw each time.

Hope you’re having a great Sunday, I sure am, wherever the hell it is I am. lol

Rhian

Be sure to check out the websites of each International Heat authors (links over there –>) to read excerpts from Rhian’s work….and there may even be an interview floating around!

I met my husband in high school. We were in the same homeroom. I had met his brother a couple of days before when my best friend and I were goofing off on the water. (canoes) Anyway, I knew right away that I was interested in this guy but for the next couple of years we were just really good friends. I listened to his girl problems and he listened to my guy problems. That all changed when his then girlfriend wouldn’t go to the local club on his birthday. He called me up and along with a couple of my other girlfriends we headed to the club to party. We had such a good time, he suggested we go out the next weekend for my birthday. Yes, our birthday’s are about a week apart. Next thing we knew, he broke up with his girlfriend and we started dating. That was Nov ’75. We had the normal teenage fights and break-ups because nothing goes smoothly for us but in Sept ’76, we got married. I was 17 and he was 19. Lots of fights and loving later, we’re still together.

Congrats on the anniversary and may you have many more wonderful years together.

I met my husband a week after moving from my small(ish) country hometown to the city I now live. He served me in a shop were my flatmate had started working. The second I laid eyes on him I thought, Damn, he’s hot. Five minutes of talking to him I thought, Damn, he’s an arrogant bastard. Six years later I married him and this year will be our 11th anniversary. I still think he’s hot and I still think he’s an arrogant bastard but I love with with all my heart and soul. Love’s like that, isn’t it.

I met my husband in the Army. We were at AIT together going through the same class. The girl that had the room next to me thought she was in love with him and talked about him so much I decided to check him out. Noooo I didn’t steal him away. Come to find out he wasn’t into her. I just knew he was the one for me. Everything felt right even when he drunkenly asked me to marry him. LOL.

We didn’t …. then. We were together 6 months before we got married. Just had our 15 year anniversary back in February. I guess I’m a cougar as well. Hubby is 2 years younger than me. He was 19 and I was 21 when we got married.

Rhian,
What a lovely story. I think mine is somewhat dull. I had injured myself and had to get a sedentary job so back to school for me. Hiram G. Andrews is like a trade school, college and a special school for people with various disabilities. Well I loved playing with numbers and this guy missed about a week’s worth of classes because he had to have surgery to straighten his right arm. He has CP and his arm formed a hook and he wasn’t able to use it. Anyway I offered to tutor him and help him get caught up. During this time period we became pretty good friends and we just seemed to click. It felt like I knew him for ever. That relationship developed very well over the months we hung out together and I realized one day that I loved him. He of course, felt the same way, the shock came when I discovered he was 10 years younger than I was. So I went through a period of doubts on whether he would stay with me and he went through it with me doing his best to prove that he didn’t care about the age and that he was in for the long haul. Well first we got engaged and then we lived together then we had the help we needed from the families to have our wedding and we have been together ever since, We met in 1992, got engaged and moved in together in 1993 and finally married in September 20, 1997, one week after my birthday.

My friend’s story is better than mine…He met his love online and flew from MD to TX to meet her. (Being the mother hen that I am, I made him call me every day so I knew he was OK!) Then she flew to MD to meet his parents. About a year later, they were married.. and they are such a cute couple!

I did eventually have a HEA, but a lot happened before that. I thought I had found the one, turns out it was MR. Wrong. I started out doing it the backwards way. I met this guy and he was the bad boy. I ended up having three children with him before he decided that he did not want to be a family anymore. He left me and my three boys and I was hurt very much. A little later I found out he was pretty much cheating on me the entire time we were together, not to mention some with my best friend at the time. After a while I finally picked myself up and I worked and took care of my kids with out any outside help from him. About 3 years later I was on my computer signed into my yahoo messenger, and checking my email. This guy pops up and just starts talking to me. I was looking at the screen thinking “Who the heck is this guy?”, I asked him if I knew him and he calmly replied, “not yet”. Well we ended up talking for about 4 hours that night and exchanged numbers. We talked for about 3 months and got to know each other well. We set up a time to meet, and I dropped the boys with my mother and went to meet him. Once we set eyes on each other it was love, I just knew it, and he actually said it. He told me, just wait this time next year we will be having a wedding lol, I just kinda laughed. In June of 2007 we were married and he not only married me but took on my boys as well. My children call him Dad and he loves it. We are in the process to make it legal and he is adopting the boys. I had to endure heartbreak to gain so much happiness.

I met my hubby while dateing another man. (Before you get all gaspy with me I didn’t do anything until after me and the guy broke up). He used to stand outside my building ever mroning with one of his friends who also had a girlfriend in my building. We had english together so I knew who he was just didn’t talk to him other then to tell him to shut up for making fun of me. Yeah it was a good natured ribbing because I was in criminal justice and every friday I was in a uniform. Him+cops=no good during his teenage years ;-).

One day out of the blue istead of calling me Deputy Dog (don’t ask me where he got it I have no idea) he asked me for a hug. I turned him down flat, I had a boyfriend and I am the loyal type. Every morning for a month he asked me for just a hug I turned him down. Then my boyfriend dumped me. I was in a bad mood for weeks having to be in just about every class with him that I didn’t notice Shane had stopped asking me for a hug. One morning I saw him he didn’t say a word to me. Me being in a better mood I backtracked. Put my hands on my hips and asked him why I didn’t get the hug invitation anymore. his answer “I gave up a man can only take so much rejection.” To which I closed the gap between us wrapped my hands around his waist gave him a hug saying “I’m not rejecting you anymore.” Let go and just walked away.

8 Years, three kids, and a marriage later here we are. He’s my first and only love (man wise). I would kill for him, die for him, and can’t imagine my life without him.

Your story is great it stands a testament that no matter what age you meet love can last forever. Thanks for Shareing with us Rhian.

Okay so if you get it where the hell did he get that name from? I have no freaking clue why all the sudden I had the guts to go to him but it was the best thing I ever did. And he makes purdy babies if I do say so myself lol.

Congrats on your anniversary! Your story is great…and all because of a butt! I don’t have a story yet myself, but my best friend from college recently got married. Her story is that she dated this guy in high school, broke up with him but remained close friends. He got married to someone else and after 10 years got divorced. They started dating again and got married last month. Very sweet that they were close friends through everything.

Happy Anniversary! Great story you and your hubby have! I have not found the one I want to settle with, but I have had the pleasure of being in love with a person, but marriage was not in the cards for us. My son Jacob was though and I am forever blessed with that.
A wonderful HEA that I know about would be my parents. Married 37 years and 6 kids later they are still together, stronger than ever.
Yep definetly want what they and you have found, but I’ll wait for that special guy.

It’s my anniversary month too, for me it’s 35 years. OMG, that number is sure getting up there, how did that happen? My story is very similiar to yours, though we knew each other a year before we got married, me at 19, him at 18. We met at a Chinese resturant we were both working at, and it was instant sizzle. So two kids later and we are both now retired and enjoying what life brings. I am a lucky woman, getting to marry my best friend and lover. I really did get my HEA.

Hubby is my best friend. He’s the one I think of when I’ve got good news, the one I turn to when things are bad and the only person I know that can put up with me for longer than a day. lol
It’s great to hear all these HEA stories.

Happy anniversary, Rhian!! My husband and I met in college–apparently we met when I was leading a freshman orientation tour (I was a sophomore at the time) but I have to admit that I don’t remember that at all. We got to know each other when we lived in the same dorm a couple years later. We were definitely friends first, and eventually his persistence wore me down 😉 Because I wasn’t terribly mature, we broke up and got back together probably half a dozen times before we decided to take a break. He started seeing someone else quite seriously, but we stayed in touch. When she decided to cut him loose, we started spending time together again and realized that it was my lucky day 😉 We’ve been married almost 13 years and have three sometimes lovely kids 😀

It’s really fun to read everyone else’s stories–congrats to those of you who’ve shared your own HEAs, and may those of you still looking be blessed to find your own special HEA, too!

First, let me say happy anniversary! I would have to call my parents’ “love story” the closest to HEA I’ve come across. They met when my dad came into the bar that my mom was working in (He was in the Navy & stationed @ Camp Lejeune). They started off as casual friends & then one night my mom went to a concert as a date w/ someone else. She said she came home & was sad, & she said she said she prayed for someone to love her & my brother. About 5 minutes later there was a knock @ her door & it was my dad. He walked to her house from the bar to check on her since she wasn’t at work & he was worried about her. He then turned around & stumbled back to base & his barracks. They got married about 2 months later & they’ve been married 34 years at the end of next month.

Happy Anniversary! I had been married and was recently divorced and moved back to my home town and was bored since I had not lived there in 10 years after moving all over the states. Then I had an opportunity to move to LI New York to open a new store. So I started chatting with people on line about places to live and do there. Of all the people I chatted with my husband and I talked the most and when they sent me to find a place to live we met for dinner and we have been together ever since, it will be 9 years in October.
gigi

Wow!
Go Sis! 43 years!
I’m with her on the ups and downs, been there done that. But I wouldn’t hand any of it back because it’s made us stronger as a couple and I’m sure helped us cope with all life has to throw at us.

Congrats on the anniversary and on the new release. Obviously, I haven’t had my HEA, since I am twice divorced. At least I didn’t quit looking! The HEA I would love to have had was the one my mom and dad had. They had 40 years together, when dad passed way to early, and after that mom said there wasn’t another like him so why bother looking. They are back together now, and it would have been their 65th anniversary this year. I hope they took up where they left off so long ago.

You know Nancy, you made me cry. I read your comment and thought about losing my Hubby and the tears just started falling.
I’d hope they’re doing exactly what you said. Picking up where they left off and moving on together.

Hubs and I just celebrated 5 years at the end of May. We’ve been together for 8.5. We met online, and chatted and chatted….4 months later we had our first date. He’s my hero, he’s my protector, and I am so very grateful that he is in my life.

I met my husband while moving. The apartments where being remodeled and we had to move from our old ones to the ones that had already been done. So about a dozen families were toting furniture and boxes all over the place and calling on friends and family to come help since we only had the one weekend to do this in. The lady who was moving in to the apartment next to me was his SIL at the time. He got her to introduce us. A week later he asked me out for the first time. Eleven years later cancer took him away from us. Haven’t had a man in my life since then(almost 9 years now).
I still miss him and wish he was here to talk to, especially now, since our daughter(19 now)is giving me a grandchild this summer.

Love your story.Wish i had a Happy ever after story but i do not so I will have to talk about books that is how i get my happy ever afters wright now i’m reading a set of books three books three happy ever afters in the blood runners series by Rhyannon Byrd.
I’m glad somebody out in the world found there true love.